Tips On Caring For St John Knits. RAVE FabriCARE 8480 East Butherus Drive Scottsdale Arizona RAVEFABRICARE

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1 RAVE FabriCARE 8480 East Butherus Drive Scottsdale Arizona RAVEFABRICARE Tips On Caring For St John Knits extraordinary care for fine garments, household textiles and accessories

2 Tips On Caring For St John Knits PURCHASING CLEANING Classic styles almost never age. Buy multiple pieces within the season to ensure a perfect color match, especially when it comes to white. Ask for extra buttons. Solicit the advise of your clothier. If you are purchasing a St John Knit with glued on pailettes and/or rhinestones from a consignment or resale store whether online or locally always ask for a guarantee that the glues haven t dried out due to improper prior dry cleaning and that the pailettes and/ or rhinestones won t peel off during any subsequent cleaning. ALTERING Altering knits is more expensive than altering other fabric garments. Save the offcuts for future re-knitting or reweaving. WEARING Knits are comfortable, breathable, hydroscopic, relatively wrinkle resistant. Exercise care when removing. Do not overstretch. Understand the pros and cons of the 4 primary dry cleaning solvents and fluids: perchlorethylene (aka perc), synthetic petroleum, formaldehyde dibutyl acetal and siloxane. Understand the difference between oil-based stains and water-based stains, and their impact on the cleaning of your knits. Inform your dry cleaner of any invisible, sugarbased stains. Inform your dry cleaner if you are cleaning one piece of a multi piece white, cream or pastel ensemble. cleaner who pre-spots every garment (and doesn t post-spot or no-spot their garments). Entrust your whites, creams and pastels as well as your dark colors with white or cream trim along the edges to a specialty dry cleaner who guarantees that his dry cleaning fluid is crystal clear. As clear as bottled mountain spring water. cleaner who guarantees that his dry cleaning fluid is non-dye stripping and won t fade your colors. cleaner who guarantees that he does not add or inject moisture, sizing or fragrance into his dry cleaning machine s wash cycles. Excessive moisture can shrink wool garments; sizing can leave wools stiff as cardboard; and fragrances can leave you smelling like you ve just walked off the late night shift in a perfume factory.

3 cleaner who guarantees that your trims will not melt, deluster or fall off (for more details, see the sub-section titled St John Knits With Glued On Pailettes And/Or Rhinestones in the St John & Other Knits section of our website). FINISHING/BLOCKING Never press a knit on a pressing machine. Understand the concept of knit blocking (aka knit reshaping or knit sizing). Entrust your knits to a specialty dry cleaner who measures every knit prior to cleaning and who blocks every knit to those same measurements after cleaning. Insist on physical proof of blocking. Never accept a dry cleaner s verbal assurance that they block all knits. If your knit wasn t returned to you with proof of blocking, you can take it as a given that they didn t pre-measure prior to cleaning and postmeasure after cleaning. Blocking can reshape a knit that is misshapen: if a knit has shrunk, blocking can typically increase the size by one or one and a half sizes; if a knit has stretched, blocking can typically reduce the size by one size. As a general rule, a sweater or knit can be reblocked about a size to a size and a half larger or a size smaller but along one dimension only length or width (for more details, see the sub-section titled Two Dimensional (Length And Width) Correctional Reblocking in the St John & Other Knits section of our website). RESTORATION Solid whites, creams and pastels can be whitened and/or brightened. You must treat all pieces of an ensemble at the same time to stand any chance of achieving a consistent color. No guarantee can be provided that a multi piece ensemble with an identical color tone will result in a perfectly consistent color across all pieces. Solid whites, creams and pastels that have existing color variation(s) can also be brightened. You must treat all pieces of an ensemble at the same time to stand any chance of achieving a consistent color. No guarantee can be provided that a multi piece ensemble with a differing color tone will result in a perfectly consistent color across all pieces. Update a blazer by changing the size of shoulder pads or eliminating them altogether. RE-KNITTING Darker pieces re-kit or reweave quite well, lighter colored pieces may show. No guarantee can be provided that a re-kit or reweave will result in a completely invisible repair. STORAGE SEASONAL Always dry clean your wools at the end of the summer immediately prior to storage for the season. This is the only way to ensure that your wools are protected from damage by feeding moth larvae. Never store garments that are damp or moist. Never store garments in a hot or damp environment such as a garage, attic or basement. Never seal garments in any type of nonbreathable bag. All garments must breathe. Never store garments in plastic bags, nylon bags or vinyl bags. Never hang sweaters and shells on hangers.

4 For best results, fold knit sweaters and shells in breathable, chemically inert storage bags made of cotton or polypropylene fibers. Never hang knit blazers on thin, straight or thin wish-bone wood, chrome or other hangers. For best results, hang knit blazers on contoured hangers that have a wide shoulder base or on hangers that are heavily padded. Then hang in breathable, chemically inert storage bags made of cotton or polypropylene fibers. Never hang knit slacks lengthwise on some type of clip hanger. For best results, hang knit slacks over a strut hanger. Then hang in breathable, chemically inert storage bags made of cotton or polypropylene fibers. Do not overcrowd your closet. STORAGE LONG TERM Always dry clean your wools immediately prior to long term storage. This is the only way to ensure that your wools are protected from damage by feeding moth larvae. Avoid anything cedar cedar blocks, cedar rings, cedar chests, cedar closets, etc. Avoid moth balls and herbal sachets. Fold flat or hang in breathable, chemically inert storage bags made of cotton or polypropylene fibers. Avoid regular tissue white or colored, logoprinted or unprinted used by your local dry cleaner or clothing retailer. Use unbuffered, acid-free tissue only. TRAVELING Fold sweaters, shells and slacks. Do not fold blazers. Stuff sleeves with tissue and double bag in poly. Hang as soon as you check in at your destination. Never hang knits in a steamy bathroom. The application of moisture without simultaneous drying by vacuum relaxes the fibers and distorts the shape. Never entrust your fine garments knits or otherwise to the hotel valet service. Very few hotels do their own work. Instead, they subcontract their cleaning to the lowest bidder. The quality of the product delivered by these quick turnaround subcontractors is, typically, on a par with your local $2/piece discount cleaner. FOR MORE INFORMATION For more information about the restoration, cleaning, blocking, finishing and storage of St John and other knits, please visit our website. Click here to link to the Knit Blocking & St John Knits section of our site. Share These Tips On: Google+ Facebook Twitter Pinterest Linkedin

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